Beginnings
by left-to-leave
Summary: 15-year-old Pam Beesly, having just transferred to a new high school, takes a chance at the homecoming football game.


**Title:** Beginnings  
**Rating:** G  
**Pairings/Characters:** Pam, Roy/Pam  
**Summary:** 15-year-old Pam Beesly, having just transferred to a new high school, takes a chance at the homecoming football game.  
**Author's Notes:** Constructive criticism is encouraged and very much appreciated!  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any _The Office_ characters and I am not making any profit from this work of fiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

"Come on, Pam," Annie whines. "It'll be fun, I promise."

Pam gives her new friend an exasperated look. "I don't think so." She slides a strand of hair behind her ear and attempts to turn her attention back to the English homework she is reviewing before class starts.

Annie won't have it. "What do you have to lose?" she asks, her blond hair bouncing along with her. "Please? Please come?"

Pam really doesn't think this is a good idea. First off, she's a new student here, and she doesn't know anyone except Annie Cooper, the social butterfly who has decided to befriend her for some reason unbeknownst to Pam. Second, she hates football in any capacity -- watching a game on TV or, God forbid, actually _playing_ holds no appeal to her whatsoever. Third, she should be spending her time helping her family unpack their belongings.

Annie doesn't seem to understand, or care, that Pam has responsibilities to attend to. Since the first day, Annie has been trying to drag Pam along to all kinds of activities, to no avail. Pam appreciates Annie's attempts to include her, but really, she likes to be solitary.

"I don't think my parents will let me. We still have a lot to do around the house," Pam half-lies.

Annie obviously doesn't believe her. As Miss Felton calls the class to attention, Annie whispers, "We'll see about that."

-----

Annie's older sister picks them up from the sidewalk in front of West Scranton High School in her ugly green Oldsmobile.

"Marion, this weekend can you drive me and Pam to the homecoming football game?" Annie asks not a moment after they've put their seat belts on in the backseat.

Marion scoffs. "On a Friday night? Are you kidding? Like I would be caught dead at a football game, let alone on a Friday night. I have plans anyway."

Annie whines, "But why? Come on!" Marion ignores her and Annie sulks the whole way to Pam's new house.

Annie gets out after Pam does, to Marion's annoyance, and leads her inside. They find Pam's mother in the kitchen, sorting kitchen utensils in the drawers.

"Hi, Mrs. Beesly!" Annie smiles brightly. Pam tries to plead with her mother with her eyes without Annie seeing, but Mrs. Beesly just looks confused.

"Hello," she says kindly.

"I'm Annie Cooper, Pam's friend from school."

Mrs. Beesly smiles, and nods at Pam. "It's so nice to meet you! I've heard all about you, of course."

Annie looks pleased and smiles at Pam, who only sighs. She hasn't said a word about Annie to her family at all. Her mother is just being nice.

Annie wastes no time in asking the dreaded question. "I was just wondering if it would be okay for Pammy to come with a group of us to the homecoming game this Friday night," she says.

Pam's face flushes. First, Annie had called her Pammy, a nickname she'd always abhorred. Second, she had mentioned a _group_ going to the game. She hadn't heard any mention of this _group_. Not only did she not hear about this alleged group, but now she would have to prepare herself for socializing with other people. It wasn't necessarily her strong point.

"Of course! That would be just fine."

_Betrayed_, Pam thinks to herself ruefully.

Annie smiles at Pam yet again. She can't seem to shut her mouth in any respect. "Great!" A horn honk blares out front. "I should get going. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Beesly! Bye, Pam! See you tomorrow!"

When the coast is clear, Pam collapses into the nearest kitchen chair. "Mother, why?" she wails melodramatically.

"It'll be good for you," her mom says simply.

-----

The day before the homecoming game comes as a shock to Pam's vision. Overnight, the school has become an explosion of royal blue and white. "Go Invaders!" signs are plastered all along the walls, and "Kill the Bruins!" is scrawled in chalk on the sidewalks.

_Violent,_ Pam thinks as she heads to homeroom.

She sees Annie chatting animatedly with a group of girls across the hall; she breaks to the right in an evasive maneuver, but runs smack into a wall. Or at least, it feels like a wall to her. She looks up as she rubs her nose, which stings slightly from the collision.

Her eyes meet with someone else's green ones.

"Hey," Green-Eyed Boy greets her, trying to conceal a laugh.

"Hi. Sorry." Pam stands there stupidly. _Come on, legs. Move!_

"You dropped your..." he bends down slowly and picks up her sketch pad. "...Your, uh, notebook thingy."

Her cheeks tinge red as she grabs for it. "Thanks. Sorry, again."

She spins around and scurries in the other direction, mortified, praying that a hole will spontaneously appear in the ground and swallow her up.

Green-Eyed Boy calls something out to her, but the din of the hallway crashes against Pam's ears and his voice is lost.

-----

Annie has not forgotten about their plans for Friday night.

"See you later, Pammy!" she says as Pam hops out of Marion's car that afternoon. "We'll come get you at 5:30, so be ready!"

-----

She doesn't know why she's putting so much effort into choosing her outfit tonight. No one will notice her, really, except for Annie and possibly the other kids she will apparently be spending the evening with.

She knows she will be completely invisible, but somehow a daydream has burrowed into her brain and she can't extract it from the forefront of her thoughts. She envisions herself buying a lemonade at the snack stand, and a pair of green eyes seeing her from a few yards away, and the person owning those eyes striding over and taking her hand...

She shakes her head as if to erase the image, but it really has no effect and she still feels giddy over something that may not even happen. _Probably won't happen,_ she reminds herself.

After much deliberation, Pam decides to wear her favorite green-striped knit sweater and long black skirt. She braids her hair in two pigtails. She even puts on a small heart necklace.

She brushes her teeth twice.

_Not that I care about tonight,_ she reconciles with herself. _I just want to look presentable._

The doorbell chimes and her mother's voice informs her that Annie is at the door.

Pam bounds down the stairs, but calms herself down and composes her face before she opens the door. She shouldn't be this excited; it's not like Green-Eyed Boy will be there, necessarily. Even if he will be, it's not like he will remember her at all. She reminds herself of this.

"Hi, Annie," she greets her friend. She can see a white mini-van parked in front of her house.

She allows Annie to pull her by the hand down the driveway to the mini-van. Once seated inside, Annie introduces her to Peter, Jared, Alexa, Dawn, Ryan, and Wendy. She vaguely recognizes them from school.

Peter turns the key in the ignition aggressively, and they're off.

-----

The band is playing at full force as Pam wanders around the bleachers. Somehow, she's found herself attached to Jared, or rather, Jared attached to her. His arm is hooked around her elbow and he's leading her up to the top of the stands after the others.

They sit down and wait for the game to start. Pam is bored already. Why was she excited about this again?

She stares off into space as Jared rambles on about the big homecoming dance tomorrow night, and is she going? With anyone? Maybe?

"What?" she asks.

"'Cause, well, I'm going, but I don't have a date or anything," Jared says, failing to be smooth as he tries to close his sweaty hand around hers.

"Oh. That's, um, that stinks. I don't think I'm going, though."

"Oh." Slowly, Jared unpeels his hand from hers and it ends up back in his own lap.

Honestly, all Pam can think about is her encounter with Green-Eyed Boy, and her secret daydream. She sighs and spies the snack stand from the corner of her eye. She considers getting a lemonade.

Not that she's expecting anything. She's just thirsty.

-----

"One lemonade, please."

"Make that two, please," Jared says from her side.

Pam sighs, a little defeated. He'd insisted on accompanying her.

"That's a dollar fifty," the guy behind the stand calculates. Pam reaches into her pocket, but Jared has already taken care of it.

"Thanks," she mumbles.

"No problem," he grins.

The game has begun by now, and back at her seat in the stands she can see the whole field.

Out of sheer boredom, she actually attempts to keep up with the action. Some guy from the other team kicks the ball, someone from their team intercepts, and then it all happens so fast, she's lost again, and gives up.

She's almost resigned this night to "completely hopeless" until a pair of green eyes catch hers. Startled, Pam's breath catches briefly as she takes in the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the broad chest wearing a West Scranton jersey. He's just taken off his helmet, and his hair is matted and sticking out in various places, and it's the most endearing thing she's ever seen.

He waves at her, and she waves back. They smile at each other, and the moment seems far too perfect to last.

And it doesn't, because Green-Eyed Boy is called back over to his team. He takes one last look at her and grins before he joins the huddle.

She can feel her mouth smile uncontrollably and at that moment, she can't seem to care how foolish she may look.

_It's a good day,_ she decides.

-----

A strange wave of bravery seems to course through Pam's veins for the rest of the night.

She doesn't worry about looking stupid as she talks and jokes with Annie and her friends.

She doesn't care what anyone thinks as she shouts along with the cheerleaders.

She even breaks out her victory dance, without a single worry that she'll be judged.

Nothing can bring her down right now.

-----

Her courage is still fueling strong inside of her when the came is over. West Scranton High School won; the "Pig-Slop-Who-Cares-A" team piles on their bus and leaves in defeat. Pam even spots a red-headed Bishop O'Hara cheerleader crying into her football player boyfriend's arms, and almost feels bad, but can't because she is high on something, maybe oxygen, and things just keep going her way.

She and Annie are singing joyfully at the top of their lungs when she sees him.

Green-Eyed Boy is coming out of the locker room, sweaty and dirty and somehow beautiful, his helmet swinging in his hand.

She's surprised at herself for even considering acting on her half-formed thought, but there she is, strolling right up to the guy as if she's the most confident girl in school.

"Hi. I'm Pam."

Green-Eyed Boy seems taken aback, but he flashes his million-watt smile and replies, "I'm Roy."

She stands there. Maybe she should have thought this plan through a little. Before it can cross over into awkward, Roy speaks up.

"I liked your art."

Her eyes widen. She's never shown anyone her art before. It takes a moment before she realizes how he could possibly have seen any of her sketches. "Oh. Thank you. Great game out there."

He smiles and thanks her. After a moment, he speaks again. "I know it's last minute and everything, but..."

"Yes?" she asks, almost breathless.

"You wanna go to the dance tomorrow? With me?"

She stops herself from answering right away. _Don't want to look to eager there, Pam._

"Sure. Yeah."

They grin at each other like children for who knows how long, and the moment is shattered, but only briefly, when Annie calls out, "Come on, Pammy!"

Pam can barely pull herself away, but she manages, with a soft "bye" and a wave. And he's smiling too and she wonders when she will wake up.

_This may be the beginning of something beautiful._ She prays that she's right. 


End file.
